Buzz
Yersinia pestis, famously known as the 'Black Death' bacterium, caused one of the deadliest pandemics in history, claiming around 25 million lives. Another outbreak three centuries later caused millions more casualties. Yersinia pestis is also believed to be the culprit behind the Justinian Plague, one of the earliest recorded pandemics in history, occurring roughly between 483 to 565.
Smallpox stands as one of the most devastating diseases in history. The most infamous smallpox epidemic occurred from 1519 to 1520 in Mexico, infecting an estimated 80% of the indigenous population. The death toll ranged from 5 to 8 million. Within just a century of resurging, from 1877 to 1977, smallpox claimed over 500 million lives worldwide.
Another dreadful pandemic worth mentioning is the Spanish Flu, one of the worst pandemics in history, with a much faster mortality rate compared to smallpox. It claimed over 50 million lives from 1918 to 1919.
How does humanity combat global pandemics?
Throughout global pandemic history, humanity has devised new methods to prevent and combat pandemics over time. During the Black Death period, sailors would stay on their ships for 40 days. This was the first recorded evidence of quarantine and self-isolation.Subsequently, medical science advanced, and humans began to understand vaccines. The first vaccine was invented to fight smallpox, the deadliest disease in history, claiming 500 million lives worldwide. Dr. Edward Jenner discovered that individuals infected with cowpox, a milder disease, seemed immune to smallpox, so he began exposing healthy individuals to cowpox. As a result, vaccines were developed and widely inoculated, creating herd immunity and eradicating this pandemic.Nowadays, vaccines stand as the pivotal and most effective method of disease prevention in the medical realm. Similar to a seasonal harvest, whether one possesses few or plentiful antibodies, once everyone attains immunity, the epidemic will be eradicated. Hence, vaccinate as early as possible to safeguard oneself and contribute to communal immunity.To gauge the 'destructiveness' scale of the Covid-19 pandemic within history, I invite you to follow the infographic below!
Source: ceufast
